BILL NUMBER: SB 1006	CHAPTERED  10/10/99

	CHAPTER   969
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   OCTOBER 10, 1999
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR   OCTOBER 10, 1999
	PASSED THE SENATE   SEPTEMBER 1, 1999
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY   AUGUST 31, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   AUGUST 17, 1999
	AMENDED IN SENATE   JUNE 2, 1999
	AMENDED IN SENATE   MAY 19, 1999
	AMENDED IN SENATE   APRIL 12, 1999

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Costa

                        FEBRUARY 26, 1999

   An act to amend Sections 116775, 116780, and 116785 of, and to add
Section 116786 to, the Health and Safety Code, relating to drinking
water.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1006, Costa.  Drinking water:  water softening and conditioning
devices.
   Existing law prohibits a residential water softening or
conditioning appliance from being installed except in certain
circumstances, including when the regeneration of the appliance
discharges to the waste disposal system of the residence where the
appliance is used and certain other conditions are satisfied.  These
conditions include the requirement that the appliance is certified to
control the quantity of salt used per regeneration by a preset
device and the settings of the device are limited so that a specified
salt efficiency rating is achieved.
   This bill would revise and recast these provisions, and would
authorize a local agency, as defined, to prospectively limit the
availability of residential water softening or conditioning
appliances to appliances that activate regeneration by demand
control.  It would also authorize a local agency, by ordinance, to
limit the availability, or prohibit the installation, of residential
water softening or conditioning appliances that discharge to the
community sewer system if the local agency makes certain findings and
includes them in the ordinance.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Section 116775 of the Health and Safety Code is amended
to read:
   116775.  The Legislature hereby finds and declares that the
utilization of the waters of the state by residential consumers for
general domestic purposes, including drinking, cleaning, washing, and
personal grooming and sanitation of the people is a right that
should be interfered with only when necessary for specified health
and safety purposes or to protect the quality of the waters of the
state.  The Legislature further finds that variation in water
quality, and particularly in water hardness, throughout the state
often requires that onsite water softening or conditioning be
available to domestic consumers to ensure their right to a water
supply that is effective and functional for domestic requirements of
the residential household, but that residential water softening or
conditioning appliances shall be available only as authorized in this
article.
  SEC. 2.  Section 116780 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to
read:
   116780.  (a) Unless the context otherwise requires the definitions
in this section govern the construction of this article.
   (b) "Clock control" means the system controlling the periodic
automatic regeneration of a residential water softening or
conditioning appliance that is based upon a predetermined and preset
time schedule.
   (c) "Demand control" means the system controlling the periodic
automatic regeneration of a residential water softening or
conditioning appliance that is based either upon a sensor that
detects imminent exhaustion of the active softening or conditioning
material or upon the measurement of the volume of water passing
through the appliance.  A demand control system activates
regeneration based upon the state of the equipment and its ability to
continue the softening process.
   (d) "Fully manual regeneration" means the method of regeneration
of a residential water softening or conditioning appliance in which
operations are performed manually and in which dry salt is added
directly to the ion-exchanger tank after sufficient water is removed
to make room for the salt.
   (e) "Hardness" means the total of all dissolved calcium,
magnesium, iron and other heavy metal salts, that interact with soaps
and detergents in a manner that the efficiency of soaps and
detergents for cleansing purposes is impaired.  Hardness is expressed
in grains per gallon or milligrams per liter as if all such salts
were present as calcium carbonate.
   (f) "Local agency" means a city, county, city and county,
district, or any other political subdivision of the state.
   (g) "Manually initiated control" means the system controlling the
periodic regeneration of a residential water softening or
conditioning appliance in which all operations, including bypass of
hard water and return to service, are performed automatically after
manual initiation.
   (h) "Regeneration" means the phase of operation of a water
softening or conditioning appliance whereby the capability of the
appliance to remove hardness from water is renewed by the application
of a brine solution of sodium or potassium chloride salt to the
active softening or conditioning material contained therein followed
by a subsequent rinsing of the active softening or conditioning
material.
   (i) "Salt efficiency rating" means the efficiency of the use of
sodium chloride salt in the regeneration of a water softening
appliance, expressed in terms of hardness removal capacity of the
appliance per pound of salt used in the regeneration process.  The
units of salt efficiency rating are grains of hardness removed per
pound of salt used.  One grain of hardness per gallon is
approximately equivalent to 17.1 milligrams of hardness per liter.
  SEC. 3.  Section 116785 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to
read:
   116785.  Except as provided in Section 116786, a residential water
softening or conditioning appliance may be installed only if either
of the following apply:
   (a) The regeneration of the appliance is performed at a
nonresidential facility separate from the location of the residence
where the appliance is used.
   (b) The regeneration of the appliance discharges to the community
sewer system and all of the following conditions are satisfied:
   (1) The appliance activates regeneration by demand control.
   (2) An appliance installed on or after January 1, 2000, shall be
certified by a third party rating organization using industry
standards to have a salt efficiency rating of no less than 3,350
grains of hardness removed per pound of salt used in regeneration.
An appliance installed on or after January 1, 2002, shall be
certified by a third party rating organization using industry
standards to have a salt efficiency rating of no less than 4,000
grains of hardness removed per pound of salt used in regeneration.
   (3) The installation of the appliance is accompanied by the
simultaneous installation of the following softened or conditioned
water conservation devices on all fixtures using softened or
conditioned water, unless the devices are already in place or are
prohibited by local and state plumbing and building standards or
unless the devices will adversely restrict the normal operation of
the fixtures:
   (A) Faucet flow restrictors.
   (B) Shower head restrictors.
   (C) Toilet reservoir dams.
   (D) A piping system installed so that untreated (unsoftened or
unconditioned) supply water is carried to hose bibs and sill cocks
that serve water to the outside of the house, except that bypass
valves may be installed on homes with slab foundations constructed
prior to the date of installation; or condominiums constructed prior
to the date of installation; or otherwise where a piping system is
physically inhibited.
  SEC. 4.  Section 116786 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to
read:
   116786.  (a) Notwithstanding subdivision (b) of Section 116785, a
local agency may, by ordinance, limit the availability, or prohibit
the installation, of residential water softening or conditioning
appliances that discharge to the community sewer system if the local
agency makes all of the following findings and includes them in the
ordinance:
   (1) The local agency is not in compliance with waste discharge
requirements issued by the California regional water quality control
board pursuant to Chapter 5.5 (commencing with Section 13370) of
Division 7 of the Water Code.
   (2) Limiting the availability, or prohibiting the installation, of
the appliances is the only available means of achieving compliance
with waste discharge requirements issued by the California regional
water quality control board.
   (3) The local agency has adopted and is enforcing regulatory
requirements that limit the volumes and concentrations of saline
discharges from nonresidential sources in the community waste
disposal system to the extent technologically and economically
feasible.
   (b) Notwithstanding subdivision (b) of Section 116785, a local
agency may, by ordinance, limit the availability, or prohibit the
installation, of residential water softening or conditioning
appliances that discharge to the community sewer system if the local
agency makes all of the following findings and includes them in the
ordinance:
   (1) The local agency is not in compliance with water reclamation
requirements, or a master reclamation permit, issued by the
California regional water quality control board pursuant to Article 4
(commencing with Section 13520) of Chapter 7 of Division 7 of the
Water Code.
   (2) Limiting the availability, or prohibiting the installation, of
the appliances is the only available means of achieving compliance
with the water reclamation requirements or the master reclamation
permit issued by a California regional water quality control board.
   (3) The local agency has adopted, and is enforcing, regulatory
requirements that limit the volumes and concentrations of saline
discharges from nonresidential sources to the community waste
disposal system to the extent technologically and economically
feasible.
   (c) Local agency findings shall be substantiated by an independent
study of discharges from all sources of salinity, including, but not
limited to, residential water softening or conditioning appliances,
residential consumptive use, industrial and commercial discharges,
and seawater or brackish water infiltration and inflow into the sewer
collection system.  The study shall quantify, to the greatest extent
feasible, the total discharge from each source of salinity and
identify remedial actions taken to reduce the discharge of salinity
into the community sewer system from each source, to the extent
technologically and economically feasible, to bring the local agency
into compliance with waste discharge requirements, water reclamation
requirements, or a master reclamation permit, prior to limiting or
prohibiting the use of residential water softening or conditioning
appliances.
   (d) Any ordinance adopted pursuant to this section shall be
prospective in nature and may not require the removal of residential
water softening or conditioning appliances that are installed before
the effective date of the ordinance.
   (e) To comply with this section, any local agency described in
subdivision (f) of Section 116780 is authorized to adopt an ordinance
.
   (f) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2003.
